New Delhi: The Supreme Court today dismissed the application for reconstituting the Judicial Inquiry commission in Vikas Dubey encounter case by replacing K. L. Gupta former DGP, Uttar Pradesh on the ground of bias.
The bench comprising Chief Justice SA Bobde, Justice AS Bopanna and Justice V Ramasubramanian was hearing an application filed by Ghanshyam Upadhyay and Anoop Awasthi who submitted that they apprehends a real likelihood of bias in the judicial Inquiry to be done by KL Gupta former director general of Uttar Pradesh police as he has already spoken his mind in media where allegedly in an interview he said on July 10 that on face value, we should accept what police is saying, why do we always start with negativity and dub police wrong? Encounters are not done, they happen”.
They further submitted that While in a TV debate on India Today on July 10, Gupta further said that “You are beginning with doubt. His vehicle was switched to obtain the element of surprise. SUVs, on national highways, overturn all the time. He’d gone to surrender thinking he’d be in judicial custody. But there was no need for remand as the police there had no case. So it’s natural that he’d run if he thought ‘I might get killed’ if the police take me into custody. He must have attempted to flee the moment the vehicle overturned.”
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta today raising objections over the alleged statements said that the statement referred in the application should be read further as it was only a part of the statement made by Gupta.
The bench while dismissing the application remarked “in a trial also you first take the chargesheet and you accept it. Accepting doesn’t mean you believe it. A right minded person who reads the statement will not believe this man is biased.”
The court, felt that the presence of one retired Supreme Court Judge (Justice) and another retired High Court Judge (Justice) made the commission solid enough to withstand any bias.
-India Legal Bureau